How to Book a Sidecar Tour in Barcelona

The driver’s name was Stefan, and he navigated a 1940s military motorcycle through Barcelona traffic like he’d been doing it his whole life. Which, it turned out, he nearly had — twelve years of sidecar tours, six days a week. I was in the sidecar, low to the ground, watching the Gothic Quarter slide past at eye level through a gap between my helmet and the windshield. It is not like any other way of seeing Barcelona.

Joyful couple riding a blue vintage scooter with sidecar through city streets — The sidecars fit one or two passengers. You sit low and the city towers above you. It feels like being in a film from a different decade, which is exactly the point.

Barcelona street with parked motorbikes and classic architecture — Barcelona’s streets were designed for two-wheelers long before they were designed for travelers. The sidecar threads through traffic that would leave a tour bus stuck for twenty minutes.

The vintage sidecar tours use restored World War II-era motorcycles — heavy, loud, and unmistakable. You sit in the sidecar while a driver-guide takes you through neighbourhoods that most walking tours skip entirely. The format works because Barcelona is a city of districts, each with a completely different character, and covering them on foot takes days. On a sidecar, you get the overview in a single morning or afternoon.

Vintage BMW motorcycle with sidecar in classic black — The motorcycles are restored WWII-era machines, mostly BMWs. They’re maintained meticulously. The sound of the engine echoing off the narrow Gothic Quarter streets is part of the experience.

Contents

In a Hurry? Top Picks
What the Sidecar Tours Actually Cover
The Best Sidecar Tours in Barcelona
1. Half Day Tour by Sidecar Motorcycle — 0
2. Night Tour by Sidecar Motorcycle — 3
3. Tapas and Sidecar Tour — 1
Is It Worth the Price?
Practical Details
The Neighbourhoods You’ll See
More Ways to Explore Barcelona

In a Hurry? Top Picks

Best overall: Half Day Tour by Sidecar Motorcycle — $200 per person, 3.5 hours covering all major landmarks with a local driver-guide. The flagship tour.

Best for nightlife: Night Tour by Sidecar Motorcycle — $193 per person, 2.5 hours seeing Barcelona lit up after dark. Shorter but the atmosphere is unbeatable.

Best for foodies: Tapas and Sidecar Tour — $271 per person, 3.5 hours combining the ride with tapas stops at local bars.

What the Sidecar Tours Actually Cover

The standard half-day tour hits the big landmarks: Sagrada Familia (from outside — no waiting in the queue, just a stop for photos and context from your guide), the Gothic Quarter, the Eixample district where all the Gaudi buildings are, Montjuic hill for the panoramic view, and the waterfront down through Barceloneta. But the magic is in the gaps between the landmarks. Your driver knows the shortcuts, the quiet plazas, the viewpoints that don’t appear in guidebooks.

Barcelona panorama with Sagrada Familia and city skyline — You won’t go inside the Sagrada Familia on this tour, but you’ll stop close enough to appreciate the scale. Your guide fills in the construction story while you take photos without the pressure of a timed entry.

Narrow cobblestone street in Barcelona Gothic Quarter with Bridge of Sighs — The Gothic Quarter is where the sidecar really earns its keep. The streets are too narrow for buses and too extensive for a walking tour to cover in one go. The motorcycle slips through all of it.

The guides don’t recite scripts. They adjust based on what you’re interested in, how much history you want, and whether you’d rather spend more time at Montjuic or in the Raval. This flexibility is the biggest advantage over walking tours or bus tours, where the route is fixed and the commentary is one-size-fits-all.

The Best Sidecar Tours in Barcelona

All the sidecar tours in Barcelona are run by the same company — a small outfit that has been doing this for over a decade. The difference between the options is duration, timing, and whether food is included.

1. Half Day Tour by Sidecar Motorcycle — $200

Barcelona half day sidecar motorcycle tour — The flagship tour. 3.5 hours is enough to cover every major district without feeling rushed, and the driver adjusts the route based on traffic and your preferences.

This is the one to book if you want the full experience. Three and a half hours covers the Gothic Quarter, Eixample, Montjuic, the waterfront, and a few spots the guide picks based on what’s interesting that day. The motorcycle picks you up from your hotel, which saves time. Every single review for this tour raves about the guides, and our full review breaks down exactly what the ride covers. At $200, it is not cheap — but you are paying for a private guided experience with a vehicle and driver, which puts it in a completely different category from a $25 walking tour.

Check Availability
Read Our Review

Man riding vintage motorcycle with sidecar on cobblestone city street — The motorcycles are road-legal and fully insured. Helmets are provided. The whole thing feels more adventurous than it actually is, which is part of the appeal for people who don’t normally ride motorcycles.

2. Night Tour by Sidecar Motorcycle — $193

Night sidecar motorcycle tour of Barcelona — Barcelona at night from a sidecar is something else. The Sagrada Familia lit up, the Magic Fountain, the port lights reflecting on the water. It is worth the late start.

Same concept, shorter duration, after dark. Two and a half hours starting at sunset, covering the major landmarks when they’re illuminated. The Sagrada Familia looks completely different at night, and the drive along the waterfront with the city lights behind you is the highlight for most people. Slightly cheaper than the daytime tour and shorter, but the atmosphere makes up for the reduced coverage. Our review has the full route details. Book this if you’ve already seen the landmarks during the day and want a different perspective.

Check Availability
Read Our Review

3. Tapas and Sidecar Tour — $271

Tapas and sidecar motorcycle tour of Barcelona — The tapas stops are at places the guides eat at themselves, not tourist traps. You park the motorcycle, walk in, eat, and ride to the next one. It breaks up the tour nicely.

The same sidecar experience combined with three or four tapas stops at local bars and restaurants. You ride, eat, ride, eat. The food spots are places the driver-guides actually go on their days off, not the tourist pintxos places on La Rambla. The price jump is significant — $71 more than the standard tour — but that covers the food and drinks at each stop. Our review goes into detail on the food quality. Best option if you want to combine sightseeing with an authentic eating experience and don’t want to plan meals separately.

Check Availability
Read Our Review

Is It Worth the Price?

Let me be direct: $200 for a sidecar tour is a lot of money. You could do a walking tour for $25, a bike tour for $35, or just wander on your own for free. So why would you pay eight times more?

Classic motorcycle with sidecar parked on a city street in sunlight — The sidecars themselves are beautifully restored. They draw stares from pedestrians everywhere you go, which honestly adds to the fun.

The answer comes down to three things. First, coverage. In 3.5 hours, you see more of Barcelona than you could in two days on foot. The motorcycle doesn’t get stuck in traffic the way buses do, and it covers distances that would exhaust most walkers. Second, it is private. Your guide adjusts to you — more Gaudi, less history, longer at the beach, skip the market. You can’t get that on a group tour. Third, the experience itself. Riding through Barcelona in a vintage sidecar at street level, with the sounds and smells of the city around you, is simply a different thing than walking or sitting on a bus.

Barcelona Eixample district with colourful buildings and clouds — The Eixample district is where Gaudi’s greatest hits are concentrated. The sidecar takes you down the main boulevards where Casa Batllo, Casa Mila, and the other Modernista buildings line up like an architectural showroom.

Where it is NOT worth it: if you’re on a tight budget and Barcelona is just one stop on a longer trip. The money would go further on entry tickets to the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and a few good meals. But if this is a special trip — anniversary, milestone birthday, honeymoon — the sidecar tour is the kind of thing you’ll talk about for years.

Practical Details

Booking. Book at least a few days ahead, especially in summer. The company runs a small fleet of motorcycles and they fill up. Morning slots tend to be more available than afternoon.

Pickup. They collect you from your hotel or apartment if it’s in central Barcelona. If you’re staying far out, they’ll suggest a meeting point. The pickup is part of the experience — other hotel guests will watch you leave in a WWII-era motorcycle and be extremely jealous.

Vintage motorcycle with sidecar on a sunny country road — The motorcycles are loud and old-fashioned in the best way. Expect to feel every cobblestone in the Gothic Quarter. Bring sunglasses for the wind.

What to wear. Comfortable clothes, closed shoes. Helmets are provided and mandatory. Sunglasses help against the wind. In winter, bring a jacket — the sidecar is open and the wind chill is real at speed.

Weather. Tours run rain or shine, though heavy rain means the route gets adjusted (fewer open-road sections, more sheltered streets). Barcelona has about 300 sunny days a year, so the odds are in your favour.

Kids. Children can ride in the sidecar with an adult, though there’s a minimum age (check when booking). Families with older kids love this — it is far more exciting than dragging teenagers through museums.

Classic sidecar motorcycle on a scenic road trip — The sidecar has a small windshield but you are mostly exposed to the elements. That is the whole point. You smell the bakeries, hear the street musicians, feel the sun.

The Neighbourhoods You’ll See

The Gothic Quarter. The oldest part of Barcelona, with medieval streets so narrow two people can barely walk side by side. The motorcycle squeezes through alleys that tour buses can’t even enter. Your guide points out details in the stonework and architecture that you’d walk past without noticing.

Gothic architecture in Barcelona illuminated by warm sunset light — The Gothic Quarter architecture catches the light differently depending on the time of day. Morning tours get the golden hour. Evening tours get the dramatic shadows.

Barcelona Gothic Quarter cathedral and narrow medieval streets — The cathedral square is one of the sidecar stops. You get off, walk around, and the guide gives you the history without a headset or competing with forty other travelers for attention.

The Eixample. The grid-planned district where Gaudi and his Modernista contemporaries built their most famous works. Casa Batllo and Casa Mila (La Pedrera) are both here, along with dozens of lesser-known buildings that are equally impressive.

Close-up of Casa Mila facade showing Gaudi organic architectural style — Casa Mila seen from the sidecar. The building looks like melting stone. The sidecar puts you at the perfect angle to appreciate Gaudi’s facade from below, which is how he designed it to be seen.

Montjuic. The hill overlooking the city. The drive up is steep and the views from the top stretch across Barcelona to the sea. Most tours stop at the Palau Nacional or near the Olympic Stadium for photos.

Palau Nacional in Barcelona Montjuic with grand architecture — The Palau Nacional at the top of Montjuic. The building houses the Catalan national art museum, and the views from the front steps are some of the best in Barcelona.

The Waterfront. The route typically finishes along the coast through Barceloneta, the old fisherman’s quarter. If your guide is in the mood, they might detour through the Bogatell Beach area, which is less crowded and more local.

Barcelona urban street scene with Montjuic mountain in background — Barcelona’s mix of wide boulevards and tight medieval lanes is what makes the sidecar format work. A bus could never do this route. Even a car would struggle in the Gothic Quarter.

Tree-lined peaceful street in Barcelona with historic buildings — Some of the quieter streets the sidecar takes you through feel like a different city from the tourist-packed Ramblas. These are the moments the guides are proudest of.

More Ways to Explore Barcelona

Barcelona has so many ways to see the city that you could spend a week trying different tours and still not run out of options. If you’re planning a full Barcelona itinerary, a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter covers the street-level details the sidecar can’t stop for. The Montjuic guide has everything you need if the sidecar view made you want to spend more time on the hill. For a completely different perspective, the catamaran cruise shows you the skyline from the sea. And if you fell for the Gaudi buildings along the Eixample, Casa Batllo and Park Guell are both worth going inside. The bike tour covers similar ground to the sidecar at a fraction of the price if you’re happy pedalling.

This article contains affiliate links. If you book through our links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps us keep creating free travel guides.